


Day by Day

by tiniestmelon



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Depression, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mental Health Issues, Smoking, female player is going to get with seb and besties with shane and penny, insp by gaymatcha who i love, set in like the 90s?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-22 18:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21306554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiniestmelon/pseuds/tiniestmelon
Summary: Haru moves to Stardew Valley to get away from it all - her parents, her job, the news... In the slow rhythm of farm life in the valley Haru processes her past.. unhealthily at first, but with the help of the townsfolk, she learns how to stand on her own two feet.
Relationships: Female Player (Stardew Valley) & Everyone, Harvey & Female Player (Stardew Valley), Penny & Female Player (Stardew Valley), Sebastian/Female Player (Stardew Valley), Shane & Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gaymatcha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaymatcha/gifts).

> Haru is a Korean name! 하루 means day, and I think a big part of healing and depression is learning how to face your life day by day. I only have a general idea of where this will go, but I think it'll be fun to write! :)

Haru invested in a radio alarm clock so she could wake up to something new everyday. She loved music, and when she had a spare ounce of energy she would play on her lyre until her neighbor yelled at her. 

_"__So tell me what you want, what you really really want..."_ Today, Haru wanted to melt into her bed. If she was a puddle, she wouldn't have to work or make her own food or pay bills... Every day seemed the same. She would wake up, eat a measly breakfast, go to her draining job at a Joja call center, and see if she was able to function like a real person after her shift. Usually she would drink alone at home. She hated her life. Where would she be in a year? Five years? She could barely imagine being _alive_ in five years.

Whenever Haru caught herself thinking this way, she would remember her grandpa's letter. He said to open it when she felt "crushed by the burden of modern life" and she certainly was feeling it today at work. She slumped in her chair, overcome by the feeling that her youth was being sucked away in this tiny cubicle. She opened the letter. 

A few weeks later, Haru arrived in Stardew Valley. When she got off the bus, she was stunned. The town seemed like a paradise. When she stood on the docks, chilly and misty-eyed, the fact that she was going to live here and become a farmer sunk in. What had she done? Haru realized she didn't know how to farm. She could barely do her hobbies! The farm was huge, and she hadn't worked out in years. How was she supposed to clear the field all by herself? 

"You must be the new farmer. I'd like to give you something."

Haru turned to see an avuncular but raggedy man next to her, holding out a fishing rod. It was terrible timing. Haru was already at her wit's end, questioning this entire move, and now some random old guy had to show up? Fuck. The man, clearly sensing her agitation, cleared his throat.

"I'm Willie. Moving out here all on your lonesome must've been pretty nerve-wracking, huh? Don't worry, miss. The people here will be good to you. You can ask anyone for help, myself included. Come talk to me whenever you want to learn how to fish and I'll be here." Haru nodded and managed to whisper "thank you" as Willie walked away. She went home and chopped down 3 trees before she was completely exhausted. The sun was about to set, so she headed to the saloon. 

Haru sat at the bar and ordered a beer. She downed it and ordered another. It had been a long day. While the bartender seemed more than a little concerned, a scruffy looking man at the other end of the bar looked a little impressed. Haru decided to go see what his deal was. 

"Get away from me," he said. Haru remained undeterred by his cold welcome.

"I'm Haru."

"Shane. Why don't you leave me alone?"

"You seem... like me," she mumbled with downcast eyes. When she was met with silence, Haru looked up to see Shane looking at her in a mixture of awe and disgust.

"Um......." Shane was clearly not equipped for this answer, and opted to pretend this conversation hadn't occurred. Haru felt more than a little exposed. Why was she always oversharing? _"__This is why I don't have friends,"_ she thought. She downed her beer in awkward silence and stumbled out the door. In the dark, the town looked very different. _"Maybe getting wasted on day one was a bad idea..."_

Eventually, she ended up next to a lake. It must've been around midnight. She could hear all kinds of creatures rustling about. Where the fuck was her farm? Drunk, sad, and alone, Haru sat down under a tree and wept like a child. Her life before was bad, but now she was completely out of her comfort zone. The night air got colder, but all she could do was cry. Suddenly, someone wrapped a jacket around her. "Hey, can you go home and stop crying? I'm trying to relax." Haru looked up to see a guy around her age dressed in black. He was wearing a hoodie and smoking a cigarette while tapping his feet. 

"Who... are you?" she asked. 

"I'm Sebastian. Can you walk home? Do you need help or something?" Sebastian helped her up and she put the jacket on properly. It was black leather, completely in line with this man's aesthetic. She wiped away some tears. 

"I'm lost. I just moved to the farm. My name's Haru and I'm just sad."

"Okay? Let's get you home then. I'm outside anyway." Sebastian put an arm around her to keep her steady and took Haru down a path she had never seen. _"Yoba, I hope he doesn't kill me,"_ she thought.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked, growing increasingly sober and suspicious of this man. 

"You were about to freeze to death out there and your sobbing was extremely annoying. I'm sure everyone on the mountain could hear you," he replied, flicking his cigarette to the ground. 

When they made it to the farm, Haru realized what a mess the plot of land was. There were rocks and wood lying around everywhere, and absolutely no signs of agriculture. She felt self conscious, but Sebastian's face was blank. "What, do you need me to walk you to the door?" The two heard a creaking sound, and a dark figure rose from the ground. Haru shrieked. Sebastian pushed her back, and beat the ghoulish creature with a wooden sword from his backpack until it was reduced to ash. 

"What was that? And why do you have a sword?" Haru asked, completely bewildered. 

"It was just a wilderness golem. I go into the mines sometimes and fight the monsters down there. Seems like your farm here is a monster zone. How do you feel about that, scaredy-cat?" Sebastian teased her as he continued walking her to the house. 

"Well... they definitely don't have monsters in Zuzu city, so this town seems more than a little fucked up," Haru replied, shaken up by the encounter. Finally, they were at the door. "Thanks for walking me. I have trouble making friends, but do you want to hang out again sometime? Maybe when I'm not having a breakdown while intoxicated outside your house?" 

Sebastian smirked. "Sure. I can help you with those monsters. Why don't we train in the mines together? We can get some cool gems there too." 

"Great! Maybe I'll find you tomorrow. Good night!" Haru didn't wait for a reply and rushed into the house, locked the door, and lit the fireplace. Worn out from a whirlwind of a move-in day, she fell asleep on the wooden floor still wrapped in Sebastian's jacket.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru meets some new people. She's tired and bisexual. I imagine that farming is hard when you're depressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no concept of time, so I thought this whole chapter would take place over the course of a day. I promise this fic is not going to literally be a day by day telling of Haru's life, but I'm still settling in.

Haru woke up unwillingly at the crack of dawn. She checked her watch. It was only 6 AM! She always had trouble falling back asleep, so she tried to stand up. Her whole body was sore. One drunken night on the floor had apparently ruined her skeleton. Was she really that old? 

She went outside and cleared some more land - enough to plant a few seeds she found in the farmhouse. After she watered all of them and moved a few boulders, it was high time for a break. She started walking to the beach. On the way, Haru stopped to look at some cows in a fenced barn. Cows! It had been so long since she had seen livestock. One was close to the fence, and she beckoned it over. “Moo?”

“MOO!” Haru jumped back. A small girl was next to her. 

“Jas, you should apologize. Scaring people you don’t know isn’t very nice. I’m sorry about that, I’m Penny. You must be the new farmer,” a young woman said. Haru was taken aback. She looked gentle and upright with her ginger hair styled in a clean chignon. She guessed Penny was a mother, since she was walking around with a girl who looked about 6 years old. In a small town like this, it would make sense for her to be married with a picket fence, small garden, and modest wardrobe.

“Yes! That’s me. I’m Haru. It’s nice to meet you.” She extended a hand. “This town must be great for raising children. How old is your daughter?” Haru asked.

“Oh… Jas isn’t my daughter. I just tutor the kids in town during the week. You’re right about the town though; it’s great for their development. There are a lot of nice trees to play in and a wonderful community. I wish I grew up here,” Penny said, looking rather sentimental. Suddenly, she cleared her throat and smoothed her skirt. “Anyway, we need to be going. We still need to pick up Vincent. It was lovely meeting you though, Haru.”

“Why don’t I walk with you? I’m heading towards the beach, so I’ll walk through town anyway,” Haru said, perhaps a little too eagerly. 

Penny smiled softly, saying, “I’d like that. Jas, let’s go! You need to stop playing with the cows if you want to see Vincent.” The three of them walked together into town until they found Vincent outside a blue house. Haru waved goodbye to all of them and continued towards the beach. Stopping to look out over the stone bridge, she thought about what Penny said. The town did seem like a good place to settle down, make a family. She shook her head and snapped out of it. “People who want kids can’t be going home drunk every night,” she thought to herself. In Haru’s mind, the only way to stop drinking was to stop being sad, and she didn’t think she would stop being sad anytime soon. Thinking about this only made her more depressed. She was already low on energy from farming, so even though it was well before 5 o’clock, it really seemed like a good time to hit the bar and pass out. 

“Hello there, why the long face?” Haru turned. Another social interaction? The man next to her seemed a little out of touch with modern fashion. He wore a velvet blazer with a cravat. She hadn’t even seen one of those outside of a video game before. 

“Um… you know, just the usual stuff. Farming is already more work than I thought it would be, and it’s only my second day. I’m Haru, by the way,” she said, still processing this man’s outfit. 

“Ah! You’re the new farmer! I’m Elliott. I’m fairly new in town, myself. I’m surprised you say farming is so much work. As a writer living in a shabby cabin, simply farming all day seems like a dream. Everyone faces troubles in life and work, I suppose. When I’m feeling down, I like to look out over the sea and take a deep breath of fresh salty air.”

“Uh-huh… That’s cool.” Haru could feel her last drops of energy fading away. Elliott’s personality, or at least what she had seen of it, was too much for her to take in at the moment. “Well, I’m going to keep walking around town for now. Nice to meet you, Elliott,” Haru said, already turning away. 

“Nonsense! The pleasure is mine,” Elliott said, continuing to look out over the bridge. Finally free from that extrovert’s clutches, Haru vowed that she would avoid all other people today. She decided to keep exploring anyway, and maybe try and find that man from the night before. 

After wandering for around an hour, Haru found the mountain lake. It was around dinner time, and she barely had any food in her house. She decided to try and grab a fish with her hands, since she didn’t have the strength to walk all the way back to the saloon. Like a cat pawing at a flash of light, she splashed around at the side of the lake. 

“What are you doing? If you want to swim, just get in,” Sebastian said behind her. She turned around. Her clothes were soaked and she looked exhausted. “Woah… Are you good?” Sebastian asked. 

“Well, I was really hungry so I decided to try and catch a fish. Do you want to help me or are you just going to stand there and judge me?” Haru asked, exasperated and starving.

“Why don’t I go grab you something from inside. I’ll be right back,” he said. In a few minutes, he was out again with something wrapped in foil. He opened it to reveal a homemade maki roll, pre-sliced. 

“Oh wow, this takes me back. Thank you so much,” Haru said. She was already reaching for the food. Sebastian watched her while she inhaled the roll. 

When she finally stopped to take a break, he asked, “What does it take you back to?”

“Sometimes after school, I would go to a Korean market and grab a roll of kimbap. It was always perfect. I wouldn’t even use soy sauce or anything. I’d just eat it plain on a bench outside, wishing I never had to go home,” she caught herself oversharing again and took another bite to shut herself up. 

“I wish I could do that. There’s never anything interesting around here and now that I work from home, all I can do to escape my family is smoke out here at night,” Sebastian said. He took a seat on the grass next to her. “I can’t believe you tried to catch a fish with your bare hands. You must’ve been hungry. Why don’t you just grow your own food?”

Haru wished she had a drink. “You know, I would do that, but it’s actually a shit ton of work and I’m too sad and weak to do all of it,” she deadpanned. The roll was gone. With nothing to do with her mouth or hands, Haru was sure she’d say something she’d regret. She tried to change the subject. “Anyway, what do you do for work?”

“I’m a programmer, but my parents think that whenever I’m on the computer, I’m just playing video games,” he sighed.

“Cheers to that. Parents never get it, do they?” Haru said, thankful that she seemed to be on the road to friendship with Sebastian. 

“Well, they get it with my half-sister Maru. She’s all they ever talk about. I’m just an afterthought, even though I’m older. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Where’s my jacket?” he said with a sour look on his face. 

“Oh……...I forgot it. If you walk me home again, I can give it to you,” Haru said, hoping Sebastian could protect her from those monsters again. 

“You just want someone to kill those golems for you, huh? Just bring the jacket here tomorrow. I don’t get cold very easily anyway.” 

“Damn. How could he see right through me?” Haru thought. She nodded. “Thanks for the food. I’ll get out of your hair so you can relax or whatever. Do you want to show me the mines tomorrow?”

“Okay, but you better eat and come here sober. I’m not giving you food or walking you home in the dark again,” Sebastian said.   
“Great! I’ll do my best. See you tomorrow,” Haru replied, getting up to head home. “It’s this way right?” she said, pointing at the path behind the house. Sebastian nodded and turned away to light a cigarette. Haru made it home in one piece. Her second day had been just as tiring as the first, and while begging for scraps wasn’t her style, Sebastian’s leftovers were pretty good. She folded his jacket to bring tomorrow and tucked herself in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru chops wood to impress Penny, learns how to fish, and meets Maru. It’s been a productive day for her, but it is only beginning...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally nothing happened this chapter. I said I was going to just skip to when she trains with Sebastian, but my gayness for Penny overtook me. Smh. Next chapter will be all about Seb. I’m speaking it into reality.

Haru finished her chores quickly the next morning and rushed to the woods south of her farm. She made sure she looked presentable by checking her reflection in the river before she started chopping wood. As she was starting to slow down, she heard Penny say, “Ah, Haru! Good morning,” behind her. 

_ “Mission accomplished,”  _ she thought. “Penny! Wow, what a coincidence. How’s it going? Picking up Jas and Vincent again?”

“Yes, I was just about to. You seem busy, so I’ll leave you to your chores. Have a good day!” Penny said, continuing to walk towards Marnie’s ranch. 

_ “I’m going to do this every day from now on,”  _ Haru promised herself. She hadn’t explored the whole town yet, so she had no idea where Penny went the rest of the day. However, chopping wood in the morning here meant Penny was sure to see her get more buff as time went by.  _ “Yoba, I’m a genius,” _ she thought, taking a break to dip her feet into the river after Penny was out of sight. 

She wandered a little more in the area and found some wild spring onions growing. After swinging an axe for so long, Haru was hungry enough to consider a few raw spring onions as a meal. She really needed to figure out how to feed herself.  _ “Aha!”  _ she thought,  _ “I can learn how to fish with Willy!”  _ She raced over to the beach, rejuvenated after her snack. 

Haru didn’t see anyone until she got to the docks. Willy was there, smoking a pipe next to his assorted fishing supplies and a basket of fresh fish. “Hello again miss, how have you been settling in?” he asked. 

“I’m getting there… Can I take you up on that offer for fishing lessons? I need a way to eat until my crops are ready to harvest.”

“Aye, I’d love to teach a young lass like you the art of fishing. Youths these days —“ Haru was no longer listening. She decided to tune out until he handed her a fishing rod to save mental energy. “Anyway, here’s my old rod. Let me show you how to cast a line,” Willy finally said. The lesson was quick, but effective. Haru was able to catch four or five fish before they became too heavy to carry with her other supplies. She thanked Willy, promising to visit his shop when she had more cash. 

After walking back home and enjoying some sashimi from her fresh catch, Haru decided to walk around town some more. She quickly grew tired of this after realizing the more she explored, the more people she would have to introduce herself to. She decided to relax on a nice park bench and watch the cherry leaves fall by the run-down community center until dinner time. 

“Hello? Haru?” 

Haru opened her eyes. She had dozed off on the park bench and Penny stood above her with another woman. “Um… Hi Penny! Sorry you caught me napping. How’s it going?” she said, looking the other woman up and down. She wore glasses and definitely seemed like an intellectual. 

“Oh, it’s good. This is my friend Maru.” Penny gestured to the other woman. 

Maru grinned, saying, “That’s me! I live up on the mountain with my family here. I’m a nurse at the clinic so if you ever get hurt, you know where to find me.” 

_ “Oh my god…”  _ Haru thought,  _ “ _ _ She _ _ ’s Sebastian’s half-sister? Damn. She seems cool.” _ Since from what Haru had already heard, Sebastian didn’t seem to have a problem directly with his half-sister, Haru decided to try being friends with both of them at the same time. “I’ve actually already met your half-brother,” she said, ready to analyze Maru’s response. 

“Wow! I can’t believe you’ve met Sebastian before me. He never leaves his room until everyone’s asleep. You must be a night owl! I stay up late too sometimes to look at the stars through my telescope,” Maru said. 

_ “Hmmm… Cheerful enough,”  _ Haru thought. “Yeah, I don’t have a real bedtime, but I think working on the farm will fix that soon enough. Well, I’ll leave you two alone and go have some dinner. It was nice meeting you, Maru,” Haru replied, standing up. 

“Nice meeting you too! Maybe I’ll see you around,” Maru said. Penny waved goodbye and Haru rushed over to the farm. She roasted another fish over a campfire for dinner.  _ “I wonder what the deal is with Maru and Penny…”  _ She pushed the thought away as soon as it came to her. It was way too early to be thinking about that, she decided, totally overlooking her promise from the morning. After finishing her fish, Haru walked over to meet Sebastian. 


End file.
